Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the main city of the Dhaka
District. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka and its
metropolitan area have a population of 11 million, making it the
largest city in Bangladesh and one of the most populous cities in the
world. Under Mughal rule, the city was also known as Jahangir Nagar.
The modern city was largely developed by British authorities and soon
became the second-largest city in Bengal after Calcutta. With the
partition of India, Dhaka became the administrative capital of East
Pakistan before becoming the capital of an independent Bangladesh in
1972. During this period Dhaka witnessed extensive political turmoil,
including many periods of martial law, the declaration of Bangladesh's
independence, military suppression and devastation from war and
natural calamities. Modern Dhaka is the centre of political, cultural
and economic life in Bangladesh, enjoying the highest literacy rate
amongst other Bangladeshi cities and a diverse economy. While the
urban infrastructure is the most developed in the country, Dhaka
suffers from severe challenges such as pollution, congestion, supply
shortages, poverty and crime. In recent decades Dhaka has seen a
modernisation of transport, communications and public works.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhaka
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1500:
Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral and his crew became the first
Europeans to sight Brazil.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Álvares_Cabral)
1913:
The Bolshevik newspaper Pravda was first published in Saint
Petersburg, Russia.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pravda)
1915:
Chlorine gas was released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of
Ypres, the first large-scale use of poison gas in World War I.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_poison_gas_in_World_War_I)
1930:
The London Naval Treaty, regulating submarine warfare and limiting
shipbuilding, was signed.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Naval_Treaty)
2000:
In a predawn raid, U.S. federal agents seized six-year-old Elián
González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida and returned him
to his Cuban father.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elián_González)
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Wikiquote of the day:
It is certainly not then — not in dreams — but when one is wide awake,
at moments of robust joy and achievement, on the highest terrace of
consciousness, that mortality has a chance to peer beyond its own
limits, from the mast, from the past and its castle-tower. And
although nothing much can be seen through the mist, there is somehow
the blissful feeling that one is looking in the right direction. --
Vladimir Nabokov
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vladimir_Nabokov)